Blood of Eden
by Jaswinder
Summary: In the aftermath of the Society of Light, Manjoume and Asuka recover a memory of paradise lost, and found. Manjoume x Asuka, sexual implications


**Author's Notes:** Set sometime after the presumed end of the Society of Light saga. I've missed a bunch of the latest episodes so I admittedly know nothing about how Asuka came out of recovery, or whether or not they're actually amensiac. I just got that impression.

The song is Peter Gabriel - Blood of Eden. It is awesome. :

Warnings: Sexual stuff inferred, but nothing even remotely graphic. As with a disturbing amount of my YGO oneshots, very vague biblical themes. wtf? I blame it on the song.

---

_I caught sight of my reflection  
I caught it in the window  
I saw the darkness in my heart  
I saw the signs of my undoing  
They had been there from the start ..._

---

Nights like this were becoming an unfortunate habit.

The mirror in the Osiris Red dorm was streaked and blurry. Bygone students had cracked its corners. It leaned against the bathroom wall, long fallen out of its frame.

But nowadays, Manjoume found the lazy filth of his environs dangerously close to comforting. It wasn't a sad decay settling into the room, but a constant reminder of the carefree spirit of everyone that lived there. Most of the cracks and dirt were not passive casualties of age, just evidence of bored and clumsy students.

The dust and broken mirror were fine. He could tolerate the rings in the porcelain fixtures and the streaks of lime in the tiles. He didn't notice a pile of moldy towels and ancient laundry. He didn't even care that spiders would watch him shower when morning came.

Tonight, only the cobwebs in his head were bothering him.

How many weeks had it been since he ran into Saiou in the woods? How many nights had he been possessed? How many days had he flaunted his new white uniform while speaking religiously about -- what _had_ he been talking about? Light, fate, cards, destiny, Saiou and his sunken cheeks -- what the hell had _happened?_

Vague memories of dueling glory stirred in his subconscious. Sometime in the past few weeks he had relived his former exalted status, he knew that much. The cheering crowds and victorious sneers and brilliant card plays had once again been his. He knew, whoever, whatever else he had been, at least for a few moments, for a few duels, he had been Manjoume-_san_ again.

Something stood out above even that though, something more notable than his rebirth, his victories, his cult. A hint of a memory, recollections whispered to him only in dreams.

---

_And the darkness still has work to do  
The knotted chord's untying  
The heated, the holy  
They're sitting there on high  
Looking down  
So secure  
With everything they're buying_

---

_"You'll sleep here."_

_Despite his use of the imperative form, Manjoume's inflection superseded grammar and rendered his words more of an apology than anything. He wanted something better to give her._

_Asuka looked as confused as her stoic features would allow. Her forehead had been slightly creased since the duel ended, and the corners of her lips dipped down constantly in uncertainty. Saiou may have found her, but she was still quite lost._

_Manjoume found himself mimicking her expression. None of the other converts had been quite as dazed by the process as her. For a terrible fraction of a second he wondered if he had done something wrong, had possibly hurt her, but his new zealous faith as White Thunder shrugged off the thought. He had **saved** her. _

_"But this..." She finally spoke, looking up at him with an inquisitive frown. "Isn't this your room?"_

_He nodded, "There's a large couch in my study. I'll be fine there."_

_"I can't--"_

_"I want to be nearby so I can be here for you, Tenjoin-kun," he spoke up suddenly, taking her hands, "If you have any questions, if you're confused, if you're not sure about anything, if you're afraid -- I'll be right there."_

_He felt himself smiling broadly, barely able to contain the boyish glee that always bubbled up whenever he got the chance to show her affection. For a moment, he forgot entirely about Light, Saiou, and even the color white. The hazel of her eyes was far more compelling._

_But Asuka returned his gaze with an inscrutable expression, and he had to wonder if she even heard him. Manjoume deflated slightly, his joy curtailed. Gathering his wits, he straightened his shoulders and smoothed his grin into something more diplomatic. "Your dueling skills are highly valued by Saiou, and he has instructed me to mentor you personally. You'll be a great asset to our organization."_

_His attempt at professionalism fell short when he realized he still had her hands, and his thumbs had been stroking her knuckles the entire time. Manjoume grimaced and let go, forcing his hands to his sides. The zealot, the cult leader, the chosen of Saiou was getting frustrated by having to share a mind with the moody teenage boy, and the internal struggle twitched across his face as he sputtered for something to say. _

_"Then..." Asuka started before he could spit something out, "...may I be excused to my room?"_

_His battle halted and he stared at her with one of her blank looks, nodding without comprehending. She returned the nod meekly and slipped into his bedroom, closing the door and clicking it locked before her words took hold in his mind. His empty expression soon sank into rejection. _

_Manjoume shook his head and turned from the door with a flourish of his coat, marching into his study purposefully. He had won the duel and brought Asuka to the side of Light -- he should be proud! Justified! Victorious! _

_But something dangerous in him knew keenly that while he might have won her as a convert and a cohort, might have her in body, mind and soul, he had not, for all his theatrics, won her heart._

_So he sat on his couch, defeated._

---

_My grip is surely slipping  
I think I've lost my hold  
Yes, I think I've lost my hold  
I cannot get insurance anymore  
They don't take credit, only gold_

---

The Osiris lunchroom was loud and boisterous again. The drama was over, the threat had passed, and school could once again be school.

Juudai was, predictably, the center of the commotion. He had taken a strip of one kind of tempura or another and trapped it between his upper lip and nose like some sort of fried mustache. Shou was giggling quietly, Kenzan was trying to mimic him, and the younger students were laughing and clapping at their antics.

Asuka smiled and politely ignored them, spearing a slice of eel. For a moment, she thought about eating it, but a cloud of black darkened the vision in the corner of her eye. She turned as Manjoume and his coat sailed by, and abruptly lost her appetite to a pit of apprehension, and... and what? She couldn't tell. It was almost like longing, but that was ridiculous.

He stopped by her table and she froze. Neither of them moved for a moment, both staring at the trays in their hands. But his head turned, and he looked down at her over his shoulder, his slanted eyes dark and tired.

She frowned reflexively. "Manjoume-kun, did you get any sleep last night?"

"I never get any sleep," he muttered, redirecting his gaze to Juudai and his friends and narrowing his eyes to a glare, "...Those idiots are always doing something and I have the misfortune of being their neighbor."

Asuka felt herself bristling and she wasn't sure why. "I don't believe you."

Manjoume blinked, baffled. "What?"

"Why are you lying?"

"Tenjoin-kun, I didn't -- they always stay up late making noise and--"

"Why do you keep changing?"

Manjoume's garbled attempt at defending himself fell silent. Asuka didn't know what had lurched in her, but her chest suddenly felt tight. The inexplicable pain shook words out of her whose origins she didn't know. "Some days you want to be cold like Kaiser. Some days you try to be a love-struck idiot like my brother. It's confusing, and I don't --"

Manjoume set his tray down and sought the words to satisfy whatever she wanted from him. "What's wrong?"

That question shook her to her core.

"I don't know! I don't even know why I care!" Asuka nearly shouted, standing up and casting a deathly quiet over the room. "I can't remember!"

Juudai, Shou and Kenzan blinked over at them dumbly, dropping their tempura. Asuka balled her fists and strode out of the room in a cloud of hurt and frustration.

Manjoume watched her go, staring at the door long after she had slammed it behind her. The curious students turned their attention to him, and he brushed them off with a venomous glower.

Once the noise and normalcy had returned, his scowl melted underneath his messy bangs.

"Neither can I..."

---

_In the blood of Eden  
Lay the woman and the man  
The man in the woman  
And the woman in the man  
We wanted the union  
The union of the woman  
The woman and the man_

---

_Manjoume snarled and shut off his com-link. He didn't want to see any more of Napoleon or his greasy fat face. Vice-principal, feh. He only answered to one man. Manjoume folded his arms behind his head and sprawled out on his couch, glaring at his white curtains._

_A soft, uncomfortable sound penetrated his angry silence, and he righted himself. Days had passed since he had taken Asuka under his wing, but though she followed him like a loyal puppy though the halls, she quickly escaped to his -- her -- room whenever they were alone._

_He walked over to the bedroom door. "Asuka?"_

_There was no response other than a muffled groan. Manjoume didn't hesitate to open the door. _

_She was curled up on the bed, wrapped up in a mess of blankets, with her head buried between two pillows. His heart sank. He shut the door and walked over to the bed without touching the light switch._

_"Tenjoin-kun, what's wrong?"_

_She lifted one of her pillows just in time to see him sit on her bedside in the darkness. Asuka sat up and sighed. "It's nothing, just... just a headache."_

_He nodded slightly. "I had those at first, too. It's a side effect, I think, of being given the power to see destiny. It helped me when I... um..."_

_He bit his lip and reached out bravely, settling his fingers on her cheeks and sliding upwards to lightly massage her temples. She was frozen, too taken aback by his touch to react. _

_"It'll get better soon," Manjoume promised, keeping his touch light and hoping she didn't feel his hands shaking, "Saiou will take care of all of us."_

_Asuka let go of her tension and closed her eyes in resignation, shrugging weakly. "I'm not sure I believe that."_

_If anyone else had questioned Saiou, Manjoume would've lashed out with righteous anger, but with her, he only inched a little closer. "What do you believe?"_

_She was quiet, before she finally shook her head between his hands. "I don't know. I'm confused... I don't know what's real."_

_"That's fine. It's confusing at first; the Light can blind us."_

_Asuka blinked at him. "It is?"_

_Manjoume nodded. His fingers drifted into her hair. "Of course. You're one of us. You won't be pressured. Besides, we're friends, aren't we?"_

_Asuka looked away. "I thought we were. But..."_

_"But?"_

_"But you keep changing. You were in Obelisk, and you were one way. You were from the North School, and you were another way. You were in Osiris, and you were another way. We got all of the Seven Stars, and all of the sudden, you... And now, you're like this..."_

_Manjoume withdrew his hands and lowered his head. She continued._

_"Everyone thinks I have a crush on either Ryou or Juudai. I don't. I respect them, not just for their skills, but for their honesty. They are exactly who they are and they don't hide it or try to change it. But I don't know what any of this is really about... and I don't really know who you are."_

_"I'm White Thunder--"_

_"No!" She sighed loudly in frustration, "You're not White Thunder, you're not Thunder, you're not Manjoume-San, you're not a phoenix rising from hell. You're just Manjoume, and it would be a whole lot easier for me to like you back if you would just be Manjoume and stay Manjoume--"_

_Asuka cut herself off, but it was too late. She fell back onto the bed and clutched her forehead. Manjoume was speechless._

_"You... you like...?"_

_"You annoy me. You frustrate me and confuse me and I hate the way you insult all of my friends," she hissed quietly, "I hate it even more because I know you don't mean it. That you're just trying to be something you're not. You try so hard and you always miss the point. I didn't need any gifts from Saiou to see that."_

_Manjoume stared in disbelief. This was the most she had spoken since being converted. "What point?"_

_She closed her eyes and turned away from him. "That if you really liked me, if you really trusted me, you would stop being different people -- stop wearing all those different coats -- and just be you."_

_Manjoume drew back, wounded. But something in his chest flipped over, and his hurt became something else._

_There was a shuffling of cloth, and he set his hand on Asuka's shoulder. Glaring faintly, she rolled onto her back to look up at him._

_It faded when she saw he had taken his elaborate, spotless white coat, and thrown it to the floor. _

---

_Is that a dagger or a crucifix I see  
You hold so tightly in your hand?  
And all the while the distance grows  
Between you and me  
I do not understand  
_---

Night had come over the island again, and Manjoume walked along the dark beach without purpose.

The moonlight faintly illuminated a figure standing on the docks in isolation. Manjoume tilted his head. With Kaiser gone, he knew of only one person that favored that hiding spot.

If he had stopped to think about it, he probably wouldn't have kept walking towards her. His feet lead him down the shore and onto the wooden planks of the pier. His shoes dragged sand over the wood grain and salty wind breathed a chill into his hair. He stopped ten feet from her back and sunk his hands into his pockets.

"Tenj--Asuka..."

"Go away."

"What do you remember?"

"Nothing!"

The same wind was whipping her hair to the side. Her entire frame was tense. He stepped closer.

"If it was nothing," he mumbled, treading cautiously, "maybe we'd be able to sleep at night."

She made a strangled sound. Manjoume could see a bit of her face from where he stood, and he thought he saw the moonlight catch a streak of tears.

"Asuka, maybe if we tell each other what we know, we'll be able to piece together what happened," he suggested carefully, forcing his hand deeper in his pocket before it attempted to reach out and hold her shoulders.

"Maybe I don't want to know what happened," Asuka muttered acidly, "I just want things to go back to how they were before this whole idiotic cult came along."

"It's not like I wish any of this happened either," Manjoume countered, defensiveness creeping into his voice, "I don't want to be remembered as some stupid religious zealot that happily licked the boots of that -- that freak! But it's going to be there, just like the time I lost to Juudai on national television, just like the time I stood there and let Misawa accuse me of cheating after I lost a duel to him, just like all the other times I've failed, and messed up, and screwed everything up!"

A gradual crescendo of emotion slipped into his rant, until he was left as edgy as she was.

"That's why," he panted under his breath, staring at the water, "That's why I kept changing. I kept thinking maybe this new person wouldn't be a loser like the last one I was. But it never worked, and it never will work. Denying something, hating something, doesn't change the fact it happened. I will have always been brainwashed by Saiou, I will have always have lost to Juudai again and again -- and whatever happened between us when we were possessed -- that'll be there too.

"So if we have to live with it," Manjoume finished, willing himself to look at her, "we might as know what the hell it was."

"You callous..." Asuka hissed softly, bringing her hand up to her mouth and digging her fingernails into her face, "This isn't like losing some duel! This isn't even like facing crazy cults or evil sorcerers or weird powers or any of the other stupid things we've done! This is..."

"This is what?"

"This is different," she whispered, closing her eyes tightly.

He couldn't take it. He sighed in exasperation and tried to think of something to say. In the end, he gave up and nearly lunged at her, hugging her so hard and suddenly that she uttered a cry of protest and kicked him in the shin. The sharp heel of her boot hurt, but he didn't let go.

"Get off of me!" Asuka writhed, nearly throwing him into the ocean, "I don't like you! I never did, so just give it up! I don't even want to _know_ what you think happened! I don't want to be part of your fantasies!"

"I'm trying to figure out if this happened before," Manjoume whispered into her hair, tightening his grip on her waist. "Just relax!"

He yelped when she elbowed him in the side. Her tension made the hug feel wrong. He couldn't shake the sense that he was forcing something on her, and he wondered how much of his memory _had_ been colored by fantasy...

"Please, Tenjoin-kun," he set his head against her shoulder and cheek, screwing his eyes shut, "I love you."

Her thrashing stopped. She went limp and still in his arms.

Manjoume blinked. If anything, he had thought that particular phrase might earn him a black eye, but when he got a look at her face, her eyes were unfocused and distant. She seemed struck by some kind of memory.

If it was the same one his own dreams hinted at...

He felt her turn around and return the hug.

All the uneasiness melted away, and the cold night became warm.

---

_At my request, you take me in  
In that tenderness  
I am floating away  
No certainty, nothing to rely on  
Holding still, for a moment  
What a moment this is...  
For a moment of forgetting  
A moment of bliss..._

---

_Manjoume had snarled and dismissed anyone that had raised eyebrows at his suggestion to allow Asuka to stay in his bedroom. He had consistently sworn he had no ulterior motives. He really didn't, either. For all the powers of perception Saiou had given him, he couldn't know his own subconscious._

_But then, Asuka had accepted his offer. Maybe she didn't know hers' either._

_He would have laughed if anyone had told him that he, White Thunder, Manjoume-San, would be so powerless in the face of such simple, base things as emotions, hormones, and sensations. _

_He wasn't laughing now._

_The kiss came naturally, and the two converts of light forgot themselves in the dark._

---

_I can hear the distant thunder  
Of a million unheard souls  
Watch each one reach for creature comforts  
For the filling of their holes_

_---_

The hug seemed to last an hour. It filled them with a sense of reconnecting, of fixing something that had been horribly broken.

It was wonderful and exhausting.

"I think I remember," Asuka murmured, "You... I didn't feel good, you came into the bedroom..."

"We started talking," Manjoume supplemented, paling, "I asked if you were my friend..."

"I said..." Asuka pulled her face away from his coat, and even in the midnight light, he could tell she was blushing. "It really happened, didn't it? I think I remember -- we --"

"Asuka," Manjoume grimaced. His memory was starting to resurface with a vengeance and it made him shiver, even underneath the grip of guilt slowly sinking into his chest, "We... we weren't in our right minds at the time. I know -- I'm sorry, I know you never would have --"

"If I wouldn't have, then you wouldn't, either," she looked up at him as he tried to look away, "I didn't exactly tell you to stop."

They were quiet. Manjoume swallowed and released her.

"Manjoume?"

As soon as he stepped back, the cold night wind flew between them and swept away the sense of warmth.

He turned around. "It's... it's getting late, we should go back to the dorm."

They started walking, the creaking of the pier following them back to the shore.

"No one ever finds out, right?" Asuka ventured, "We could get expelled."

"Right, nothing happened."

"Right. It wasn't us."

"Not us at all."

"Everything's fine..."

"Completely fine."

They stepped back onto solid ground and headed up the path to the doors of Osiris.

---

_Blood of Eden keeps running through me  
Running through my veins  
Blood of Eden keeps rushing through me  
'Till I'm sure that it's all that remains_

---

_"Manjoume..."_

_When they could both finally think straight again, neither wanted to._

_"Y-yeah?"_

_Manjoume felt her grip tighten, her fingernails digging into his back. Long blond hair fell over his shoulder and tickled his skin._

_"You'd better not go anywhere."_

_He smiled despite everything. "I told you I'd stay close."_

_"Will we get in trouble with Saiou?"_

_He froze, getting goose bumps. That had never occurred to him. After all, any activity not conducted in the service of Light was frowned upon. Even Gin had stopped playing video games after Saiou had fully claimed his soul._

_But for the first time since running into Saiou, something stronger than White Thunder's faith elbowed in to take control. Manjoume hunched his shoulders and let his heretical words escape._

_"I don't care. You matter more than him."_

_Asuka pulled back to stare at him in disbelief._

_"He could kick us out of the society--"_

_Manjoume shook his head._

_"Maybe he will. Maybe we'll have to go back to staying with the losers. But--"_

_Before blasphemy slipped out of his mouth again, images flashed in his mind. He didn't know if it was his own sense of self-preservation or Saiou sending an ominous warning, but his dueling glory replayed in his head. He remembered clearly, perfectly, what it felt to win again. What it felt to once again be at the top of the food chain, to have fans and followers fawning over him. He imagined clearly his eventual victory over Juudai, crushing him, taking back every ounce of pride and dignity the idiot had ever stolen from him. _

_But it didn't matter. _

_Asuka was in his arms. **Nothing** could compare._

_Manjoume narrowed his eyes._

_"...let him cast us out for all I care." _

_Elsewhere, a man in white shuffled cards in silence. An errant card slipped out of his desk and sailed to the floor, sliding a few feet before coming to a stop, face-up._

_Saiou watched it land. He sighed. Though he had suspected this might come, he had hoped against it. _

_They would still wear the white uniforms for a time, but he knew he had lost his two top duelists. Even his best disciples had fallen to temptation. _

_Saiou retrieved The Lovers and set it back in his tarot deck. _

_---_

_In the blood of Eden  
We have done everything we can  
In the blood of Eden  
So we end as we began  
With the man in the woman  
And the woman in the man_

---

Manjoume opened Asuka's door for her. The motion wasn't even conscious.

They both stopped, and for the first time since their revelation, looked at one another.

"Nothing happened," Asuka tried to confirm, and Manjoume nodded uneasily.

"Nothing's changed. Like you said, it wasn't us."

The floor suddenly became very interesting to both of them.

"Manjoume..."

He lifted his head, listening. She hesitated.

"...what if it was?"

"What?"

"What if..." Asuka looked back over her shoulder, "What if that was the only thing that _was_ us? It's the only part I can remember. What if it's the only part that was real?"

Manjoume stared at her with slightly wide eyes. "T-tenjoin-kun, don't--"

"Don't what?"

"Don't tempt me with ideas like that," he muttered, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Tempt you? If I hadn't been around to distract you," Asuka continued, tilting her head, "I think you'd still be there. I don't think Juudai would have been able to defeat you. Saiou would have made you stronger than ever and he'd still be in power. It would be everything you ever wanted, right? To rule again? No more failures, no more lost duels? You had all those other students at your beck and call! It must have been paradise for you."

Quiet filled the hall. Manjoume looked distant.

"No, Tenjoin-kun," he smiled reluctantly.

"No? That's all you ever talk about, though--"

He reached out and took her hands.

"It wouldn't be paradise without you."

Asuka blinked at him. The blush crept back into her face.

It got stronger when she realized not only had he been brazen enough to lean forward and kiss her, but that she was returning it.

---

_In the blood of Eden  
It was all for the union  
The union of the woman  
The woman and the man._


End file.
